


The Key

by msraven



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Get Together, Lack of Communication, M/M, jealous!Phil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 17:39:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/890015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msraven/pseuds/msraven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> Phil wants to punch Captain America in the face.</i>
</p>
<p>Or...Communication is Key.</p>
<p>Or...to quote an earlier fic of mine: "Our race has not yet developed telepathic abilities. Communication only works if one, or hopefully both, of you actually talks."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Key

**Author's Note:**

> Quick fic break from the fic I'm writing for MBB.
> 
> Un-beta'd, so all mistakes are mine.

Phil wants to punch Captain America in the face.

Yes, Phil had noticed that Clint and Steve had been spending a lot of time together lately. He knew they had a common interest in baseball - even managing to sneak into Yankee Stadium unnoticed to watch a game. Phil had also seen them working out together in the SHIELD training room while Natasha had been out on assignment and Phil had watched footage of the Avengers’ latest battle from the plane, ignoring the tightness in his chest at how easily Clint now followed Steve’s orders in the field. 

The whole way back to New York and the Tower, Phil had told himself that Clint learning to trust his team is a good thing - a great thing. That Phil couldn’t possibly expect to remain the only one whose orders Clint followed without question. The Avengers are coming together and Phil should be happy. Phil _is_ happy, but this - what he sees walking into the main living room - makes him far from happy. It makes him feel as green as the Hulk and want to punch Captain America in the face, despite the damage it’s bound to cause to Phil’s hand.

Steve and Clint are sitting on the couch facing each other, the only light in the room coming from the closing credits of whatever movie they had been watching. Steve’s hand is on Clint’s shoulder and Clint...Clint is looking at Steve with an expression that Phil is familiar with, but never expected to see directed at anyone else. Clint’s eyes are full of hopeful disbelief. It’s the look Clint gets when someone he respects, someone he cares about, is telling him something good about himself that he doesn’t believe, but wishes were true.

Phil must make some noise because both men suddenly turn and notice his arrival. The look of surprise and joy on Clint’s face is almost enough to relax the fists that Phil’s hands have clenched themselves into.

“Coulson! You’re back,” Clint says happily and then frowns in concern. “Hey. Are you okay?”

“I...” Phil knows he should say he’s fine, make some excuse about just being tired, but he can’t. Not tonight, not now when Steve’s fucking hand is still on Clint’s shoulder. How _dare_ Steve insinuate himself into Clint’s life and earn his trust so quickly when it took years for Phil to do the same? It was Phil who rebuilt Clint’s confidence in himself after joining SHIELD, Phil who showed him that there was a good and honest person inside him, and Phil who taught Clint that it was okay to trust someone other than himself. And now... _now_ Steve is stepping in to take advantage of Phil’s hard work to what? Take Phil’s place in Clint’s life? Phil cannot and will not ever be okay with that.

“I need sleep,” Phil says quickly and flees. 

Phil is five steps away from the door to his room when Clint, silent as ever, sweeps by and blocks his path. He grabs both of Phil’s shoulders to stop his forward progress.

“Whoa there,” Clint says. “Something is definitely wrong. Tell me.”

Phil pulls away from Clint’s hands and leans against the wall. “I’m just tired,” Phil tries.

“No,” Clint shakes his head and moves to stand directly in front of Phil. “I’ve seen you so tired you can barely stand. This isn’t it. What’s wrong?”

This, Phil can’t help thinking, is why he’s in love with Clint - because Clint has never looked at Phil and just seen Agent Coulson. He’s always looked deeper, pushing against Phil’s defenses until he stopped trying to hide behind the facade. Maybe, Phil realizes, maybe it wasn’t just Phil doing all the work all these years. Maybe Phil owes Clint an explanation, a final confession before he steps aside and lets him find happiness with Steve.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Steve,” Phil says.

Clint frowns in confusion, but answers the non-question anyway. “I can’t really hang around HQ. I mean, I know they’re all trying, but they can’t help their unconscious reactions to my being around.”

Phil automatically reaches out to lightly grip Clint’s arm in reassurance. “It will get better.”

“I know,” Clint agrees. “But for now I’m here, Stark and Banner have this science bromance thing that I don’t want to get in the middle of, Fury keeps sending Nat off on assignment, and...well...I thought you’d appreciate it if I made attempts to be friends.”

“I...what? With Steve?” Phil asks, incredulous. Clint is spending time with Steve and driving Phil crazy with jealousy because he think it’s what Phil wants?

“Um, yeah,” Clint shrugs. “He’s your hero and everything, right? Plus it turns out that Steve’s a pretty good guy beyond all that legendary heroic virtue and all. And he’s, uh, bi too...so if you want me to, you know, set you up and stuff now that we’re friends...”

“I...what? With Steve?” Phil aks again, feeling thrown off enough to repeat himself. “I thought...I thought _you_ and Steve...”

“What? No!” Clint protests. “What would I want with Steve?”

“Because,” Phil answers, giving Clint’s arm a squeeze and forcibly shoving his own heart out of the way, “Steve’s a good guy and you deserve a good guy, Clint.”

“I already have a -” Clint starts to reply and then stops, his eyes going wide and his jaw falling open. “That...out in the living room...you...you were _jealous_? Of Steve? Because of _me_?”

Phil smiles sadly and nods.

“Holy shit. Steve’s right? You do care about me?” 

“Of course I care -” Phil says, but Clint cuts him off with a sharp shake of his head.

“Not just that, but -” Clint steps forward until they’re standing a hair’s breadth away from each other and Phil, suddenly unable to censor his body’s reactions to Clint, sucks in a gasp.

“What the fuck, Phil? Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Clint demands. “I never thought...I’m a total fuck up. I have more baggage than a 747 and I break everything I touch. What could you possibly want with me?”

“Everything,” Phil sighs and it’s Clint’s turn to gasp, his eyes going impossibly wide in shock. “As for why I never...I didn’t _know_. I didn’t realize until Pegasus how much deeper my feelings went for you beyond friendship and far, far beyond the professional. It wasn’t until I lost you...”

Phil trails off and closes his eyes, the painful memory of Loki’s staff enslaving Clint always closer to the surface than his own injuries caused by the same weapon.

“And after?” Clint asks softly, forcing Phil’s eyes back open.

“Guilt,” Phil confesses. “I was the one that told Fury you were too valuable an asset to lose, even to the Avengers. I’m the reason you were sent to Pegasus instead of being assigned to help Steve assimilate into the present like Fury planned. I was being selfish and we almost lost you.”

“By that argument, then I was the one who led the attack on the Helicarrier that nearly got you killed,” Clint retorts. “And if you want to start down that path, then you’re the one that made me want to stay at SHIELD, that made me want to fight on the good side, for once. You’re the one who kept me from bleeding out in Budapest so I could even make it to Pegasus and I’m the one that dragged you out of Rio so you could later be stabbed through the chest by a deranged god. Neither one of us ever held that staff, so your logic is really fucking flawed, Phil.” 

Phil can’t hold in the smile that spreads across his face at Clint’s words. “Is that your way of telling me to suck it up and confess that I’m in love with you?”

“No,” Clint says, reaching up to frame Phil’s face with his hands. “This is my saying that we’re two idiots who deserve each other because I’ve been in love with you for years.”

Any response Phil may have is lost as Clint closes the last bit of distance and kisses him. 

While hallway declarations of love after a fit of irrational jealousy may not be the best way to start a relationship, Phil can’t argue because it worked. Even years down the road, when someone asks them on their 25th wedding anniversary how they got together and Clint laughingly embarasses Phil by telling the truth, he can’t find it within himself to complain.

Phil really needs to shake Captain America’s hand.

_fin_


End file.
